A smart, thoughtful, sexy romance novel about interracial dating and mental health. I loved the chemistry the characters had and can't wait to read what Gia does next!

I flew through this one, I couldn’t put it down! I loved that it was a multicultural love story, the characters had their own battles, and it had all the necessary romance portions. Definitely recommend!

This was perfectly fine. Entertaining, but nothing memorable or that I'd want to keep on my shelf. It also felt forced at times, and I found it weird that a white man would use AAVE – it felt like it was bordering on appropriation. As a white woman I'm not sure how that would read to a Black person, so make sure to read some own voices reviews before proceeding with this one.

Getting His Game Back was a book that definitely gave me mixed emotions. I found the first half of the book a bit confusing due to the pacing and found myself trying to play catch-up to what was going on. What I do think was the star of this book was the open discussion about male mental health. This was one of the first stories I’ve ever read that really went deep into the topic. Khalil broke my heart again and again and Vanessa and Darius were such a beautiful example of a support system.

~Special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

How can I put into words how AMAZING this book is! I read this book in one sitting because I could not put it down.

The representation for mental health was so hard but moving at the same time to read with the hero Khalil. There was no sugar coating or anything. I just loved it

Khalil was so sweet and his love for Vanessa was perfection. It made me swoon so much! I loved how relatable the book was for me especially with the look into interracial relationships. Being in an interracial relationship requires talks about different hardships and overcoming them & this book does it BEAUTIFULLY! Gia de Cadenet is now an auto buy author for me. 5 freakin Stars!

Getting His Game Back follows Vanessa and Khalil. Vanessa is a black woman who has negative experiences dating outside of her race. Khalil is a white man who has been struggling with his mental health and can't see himself getting back into the dating game anytime soon. I think it is important to emphasize mental health for men. Most of the time it is always focused on women. There are different conversations about interracial dating and dating black women. There is definitely SMUT in this book as you watch the relationship unfold.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of “Getting His Game Back” by Gia de Cadenet. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starting with the beginning, I wanted more character development or maybe a stronger introduction of who they were as individuals before they meet so I’d be more invested in them as real people. The middle/main part of the story I enjoyed a lot and I love reading books where mental health is a big part of it (especially when it’s men talking about or experiencing it) but the ending felt a little abrupt! I would’ve liked more on Khalil’s journey with his mental health and some sort of update on how he’s doing. It’s implied to me that it’ll be better but I’d love confirmation or some visual of that and how it gets better. The last scene was cute but an epilogue of that being carried out would have been sweet.

I was left with a lot of questions too. What happened to his brother? Did he and his wife stay together or what? And we spent so much time on the drama at the shop but what happened with that? Is he working there again? Is the guy they fired gone and who replaced him? How was that resolved? I just needed a little more with the conclusion.

This book is very character driven, and addresses the themes of multi-racial couples and mental health issues. I felt it was very well written, and while I started it thinking it was more of a romance, found it was a lot more. It was refreshing seeing the issues of mental health through a man's perspective. I felt like the characters grew as the book went on, and the story also flowed well. I will recommend this book for sure!

This book had the potential for being a great romance read. But it became flat toward the end. The romance between the characters was really good at the beginning of the book, but their romance kept getting repetitive that I often had to skip over. I don't like to skip parts when I am reading a romance book, but if it's repetitive then I'm going to skip over it. No story should be dragged out, it should be steady pace.

Khalil is a successful businessman who has three thriving barbershops and is a huge part of his community, but he struggles with depression. After a wicked breakup, he is struggling with getting back in the swing of things. He is getting there as long as he can keep his issues hidden away. In walks Vanessa, figurativly and literally, into his barber shop. She is a beautiful successful black woman who is all about her career, until she meets Khalil. The two hit it off for awhile until Khalil starts to pull away. Real men don't have depression and need therapists. Can their budding relationship withstand Khalil's self sabotage? I enjoyed the story and it was a nice change to have the male lead have the depression issue. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 4 stars

I thought this was just okay. I didn’t enjoy the steamy scenes and the second half was a bit boring. Overall I thought it was okay.

A romance that discusses BOTH an interracial relationship and men's mental health. Plus features the slow build up of a relationship. I am all about it! Vanessa and Khalil are a couple I was really rooting for. I loved how their hesitancy about the other seemed true to life and relatable. Vanessa doesn't want to date a non-Black man after bad experiences in the past, and Khalil's struggles with mental health have eroded his confidence in himself. Vanessa and Khalil are also strong business owners - Vanessa facing sexism and racism in her career. As you can see from my short review, there are a couple of heavy topics discussed. This is not a fluffy book, though the romance remains front and center throughout. I really enjoyed this one, and if you like contemporary romance encourage you to pick it up.

This book was an easy read and kinda felt a bit fan fiction like in nature. I wasn't into our Ml lead simply because he stuck me as the kind of white boy who did too much. I enjoyed the spicy scenes the most.

Khalil and Vanessa are such an amazing couple to read about. Gia de Cadenet, a new author to me really did an amazing job on their back stories in this contemporary interracial romance.

I enjoyed this light-hearted romance that packed a punch in addressing themes of multiracial couples and also issues on mental health. I loved their meet-cute and the slow-burn romance between these two unlikely pairings. It's not often you see mental health represented via the hero, and it was a really refreshing perspective. With discussions of depression and suicide, I wouldn't say this is a lighthearted read, but it still had a playful vibe thanks to the sweet romance between Khalil and Vanessa.

Love, love, LOVED this smart chick-lit romance, which tackled a lot of difficult themes (interracial dating, race and bias in the corporate world, and mental health) without coming across as didactic. Khalil is a white man and a former player (of basketball and of women) who has been struggling with depression after a breakup; he is trying to "get his game back" (hence the title). Vanessa is a black woman who is the successful founder of a tech startup, and who has been burned in the past by dating outside her race. The buildup was slow but I loved the chemistry between the two, even as I was mentally screaming at them to hurry up and date already :) I was alternating between swooning about what a fantastic relationship there was with such respect between the two, and nodding vigorously at the points made about race and also about mental health. I'm so impressed with how Cadenet wove all this together into such an enjoyable read - can't wait for her next book!

Getting His Game Back by Gia De Cadenet is a contemporary romance about a man struggling to be his perfect self and a woman who is ready to break her “rules” for him. Khalil Sarda went through a rough patch last year, but now he’s nearly back to his old self. All he has to do is keep his “stuff” in the past. Real men don’t have depression and go to therapy—or, at least they don’t admit it. He’s ready to focus on his growing chain of barbershops, take care of his beloved Detroit community, and get back to being the ladies’ man his family and friends tease him for being. Vanessa Noble is too busy building a multimillion-dollar tech career as a Black woman before age thirty to be distracted by a relationship. Not to mention, she’s been burned before, still dealing with the lingering hurt of a past breakup. Besides, as her friends often remind her, she’ll never find a man who checks all the boxes on her famous List. Yet when she desperately needs a shape-up and happens upon one of Khalil’s barbershops, the Fade, he makes her reconsider everything. Khalil is charming, intelligent, sexy, and definitely seems like he’d treat a woman right, but he’s not Black. Vanessa may be willing to take a chance on Khalil, but a part of him is frustratingly closed off, just out of her reach. Will old patterns emerge to keep them apart? Or have they both finally found a connection worth throwing away the playbook for?

Getting His Game Back covers a variety of tough topics. I could understand and empathize with Vanessa's worries, both professionally and with relationships. I enjoyed the slow burn of Vanessa and Khalil getting to know each other and come together, complete with the insecurities and missteps. I really enjoyed the community and support system of friends and family they each had, even when they failed to make use of them. I loved the honest way depression is talked about, both in how it feels and the worries of other people's perceptions of us if it becomes known. The way masculinity can play such a strong role in the perception and expression of such strong emotions was so truthful and real to me that it really struck home. The amount of personal growth and introspection for both Khalil and Vanessa was very well done, and my only problem with the book is that I wanted more. I wanted more about everyone's past, especially some of the secondary characters, and I really want to know where all of them go from here. I am fully invested in these characters even after I finished the read, and I cannot wait to explore more from this author.

Getting His Game Back is a honest look at love and depression with a great deal of heart, hope, and growth.

[Thank you to Ballantine/Dell and NetGalley for my gifted e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions reflected are my own]

Synopsis:
Kahlil has really been going through it, and as long as he keeps to the course, he will be able to stay strong. He's ready to focus on his barbershop business, and get back to his "player" ways as his family calls it. Until he meets Vanessa, who completely throws him off his game. She's beautiful, strong, and smart - and he is a puddle of goo anytime she comes around. Vanessa is unbothered, too busy working on building a multimillion-dollar tech career as a Black woman, to pay attention to something as trivial as a MAN. But how come she can't stop coming back for regular appointments at Kahlil's shop? She can't possibly be interested in Kahlil, for one, he's not Black? Will they both put their past hang-ups aside to give this spark a fighting chance?

Review:
I have been telling everyone around me to read this book for WEEKS. The way that Gia de Cadenet writes a male main character is refreshing and so great to see! He is strong, goes to therapy, but also has self-doubt. Vanessa is also complex and approaches inter-racial relationships in such a real, raw way. This isn't a cheesy, insta-love rom-com, it's a realistic and interesting contemporary romance. If you love your romances to be character-driven, this one is for you!

Content Warnings: Depression, Conversations surrounding suicide/self-harm

unfortunately this book was a DMF for me but it wasn’t a bad book, just not my type :) i can see my self wanting to read other books from this author

While this does technically meet the requirements for a romance, wow was this book much heavier than I expected! I think there was just a bit of an overload of issues- mental health struggles, interracial dating, infidelity/ spousal abuse (for a side character), and sexism/ misogyny in the workplace all come into play. While I appreciate the way mental health issues were handled here and the fact that this book offers a diverse relationship it just felt like, overall, the plot was weighed down quite a bit and certain points were rehashed too many times.
I did like the characters and wanted them to get their HEA together, but I wished there could have been more time with them being together and happy. That part seemed too short.
Also, I hope the editor caught that Detroit is in the Eastern time zone and switched that before the official book release.

This book was a delight. I really loved this one and i can't wait to continue recommending it as a hidden gem.